Going through withdrawal

[Critical Mass]

In my fictional world, I am the general manager of the Washington Nationals in the year 2028.

In 2025 my team made it to the playoffs for the first time. In 2026 the Nationals made it to the World Series but lost four games to two. In the offseason prior to the 2028 season my owner sold the team and the new owner gave me a higher budget than the old owner. I still took this opportunity to rid myself of one or two overpaid veterans who were injury-prone, and sign some new talent. I was very hopeful going into the 2028 season.

The problem? I turned on my computer Friday morning and it refuses to boot. The little circle just keeps spinning and spinning and spinning. I have researched over and over online, I've tried all the suggested Solutions, have taken apart the laptop, reseated the RAM, reseated the hard drive, and still nothing.

I know this is not a computer repair forum. I won't be able to attempt to fix my computer until Monday night. I'm using my cell phone to check out this website and post.

I'm just going through a bout of withdrawal right now and wanted to share with someone. I'm wondering what my team is doing right now without me. Are they playing without me, or are they postponing the season until I'm available? Perhaps the entire league has disappeared into the vastness of cyberspace, never to be heard from again.

Thanks for listening.

[endgame]

Windows? Had this happen recently to a desktop. Finally turned off, turned on, hit my F8 key repeatedly waiting for a boot setup, but instead the processing icon came up and I let it run for a bit longer than was comfortable. Then it started an update, basically saying it would restart several times. I didn’t return for a lonnnng time, to avoid any disappointment. When I finally did, it was up and running. I do not like these machines as much as I once did, nor do I understand them as well any longer. Technology raced past me. I basically gave up on music, other than Pandora, and still don’t understand iCloud or iTunes. But I love my little game. Even it’s growing bigger and more complex. Good luck. It has to be difficult.

[Andy]

Just want to say I hope you get it figured out. Good luck!

[Reggie]

I couldn't do it. This is where I would go out and buy a new computer even though I can't afford it. I'd buy a new computer just for OOTP. It's also why I bought an external hard drive that I couldn't afford.. just in case I needed to buy a new computer to get my fix.

[NoOne]

if it's not getting past the "Post" try this: (post is the first few seconds (or more) of any boot-up before you see a windows logo or "windows starting" etc)

remove cmos battery for a few seconds... then put it back in.

it's just a watch-like battery - CR2035, probably. there will only be 1 to find. google mobo model# or laptop model with "cmos" or "where is cmos" to point you in direction, if you can't find it easily.

this will reset your bios, FYI. so, if you made any edits to it, you will have to do so again. no biggie. lots of people think a computer is "bricked" and this is all you have to do to get it back on.

if this is during Windows loading... you may have a corrupt system file and need to re-install windows. try safe mode first... if that doesn't work, try booting to a command prompt, if that's an option.. .remember your DOS commands? lol... ugh... it will be a pain to get that data off that hard drive. another computer would be useful to plug that hdd in there and transfer to that primary drive on other computer or to a flash drive using that computer etc... not even sure if you'd have all the necessary drivers to move files to a flash drive from a command prompt-only boot up. but, if you can attach the drive to a another computer, the os on that drive doesn't have to be functional..

hopefully it is not a corrupted or failing drive... the data is potentially unrecoverable.. or may move at a snail's pace in PIO mode (~1-4MB/s tops would tkae hours for a gigabyte league to copy, lol)

(saved leagues as well as anything else you feel is necessary to save, because reinstalling windows will wipe the drive clean. -- it will be impossible to unlicense it if you can't load up that computer.. so use your 2nd licesne and also fill out a customer service ticket to release the 'lost' one for future use)

so, before you start that process, make sure you have at minimum your wifi card drivers, or you won't be able to connect to router and internet to get the rest.

[MizzouRah]

First thing to check is the hard drive. What is the make/model of your pc? Dell and HP have built in HD checks, if you have one of those run a FULL HD test.

[Critical Mass]

Thanks for all of your concern, but it looks like all of my players have unfortunately disappeared into Cyberheaven, never to return.

Yes, it's Windows 8.1. I tried booting the laptop using a Bootable USB, and while the light on the USB flashed for about 10 seconds, giving me hope, eventually, the screen just went black.

Tried taking out the hard drive and installing it on a desktop, and while it shows up as a local drive, attempting to click on it to pull up a list of files results in just a spinning blue circle.

It looks like for some reason, the hard drive just bit the dust.

Perhaps this time around, I will correct one mistake. In years past, when creating a new world, I remember reading that it was best to let it run 10 seasons or so before actually "jumping in". I didn't do that this time around, and noticed virtually all of the coaches were "Inexperienced", and some those that were actually labeled as Hitting Coaches, for instance, really were Scouts who wanted to be Hitting Coaches.

I think being patient and waiting and allowing a "History" before jumping in is the best thing to do.

[MizzouRah]

you can try to attach the HD to another pc via SATA to USB cable and then open up a command window and type chkdsk /r d: (where d is the letter of your bad HD) - you might have to open a command window as an administrator if it says access denied

this will scan the whole HD and attempt to move the data from the bad sectors to good sectors if there are any on the HD - I have seen this work many times, then you can just backup your OOTP save file and move to a new HD

just note that on a decent size HD, it can take overnight for it to fully complete

[Critical Mass]

Hmm. It's a 500gb drive. Of course, I'm stuck with the "moral" question of should. I keep holding out hope, or just put it behind me and move on with a whole new universe of Cyberplayers. Oy.

Thanks, though. You've given me something else to try.

[NoOne]

all hdd have a S.M.A.R.T. function, not jsut dell etc. (assuming it's not 15-20 years old or soemthing.) don't use dell or hp software, always remove that junk. it is 90% bloat for sure.

crystaldiskinfo is a free app / freeware that you can use to check if it is a failing drive. you you don't have any unrecoverable sectrors (C5/c6 ID will be your main concern) then it's not the drive. it's ~10MB with 32bit/64bit exe's included and portable -- ie you don't even have to install it.. just run the .exe file.

screen shot included: c5/c6 is the primary focus... also hours of use will be correlated to failure.. anythign approachign 30k-35k hours is nearing it's end with a mechanical drive. even if no errors, be afraid of any drive with so much use. at 25khours i don't put anythign of value on my carryover hdd... if it tanks i am okay with what gets lost.

when you attached to the 2nd pc, did you make sure to use correct sata port? there are differnet speeds, make sure it's a 'better' one. check schematic of Motherboard. some run at 1/2 speed of others etc. also make sure power cable is connected securely.

you may need to activate it too. -- check Disk Management and make sure it is even recognized by the OS.. a drive letter under "my computer" doens't necessarily mean it is ready to use (screenshot 2). right click the added drive and make sure it's "active" -- under the "status" column.. will say "primary partition"[sic]

definitely troubleshoot this...

even so, you can pull data from a failing drive in many cases. it may take a long time to do. pio mode is slow when it's a damaged/failing storage device. let it take a while to open up the drive .. ie walk away and eat breakfast or dinner etc... then if it still hasn't opened up that drive, you can assume it's beyond pulling data from it.

[Critical Mass]

Thanks, NoOne, I will give it a shot.